The Diary of Anne Frank
was the first Schindler's List, the first story about
the plight of the Jews under the Nazi occupation to reach
international attention. In the relatively immediate
aftermath of WWII, the publication of the diary, especially
in the U.S., and its manifestation as a play, was to give a
face to the victims of the holocaust. But to us, a
half-century later, Anne's diary is perhaps more telling as
a story of courage and heroism of those ordinary citizens
who defied the Nazis in order to help their fellow humans as
well as those who refused to give up despite what must have
seemed an interminable oppression.

Spielberg bookends Schindler with the concept of
continuity, as if to say that Schindler makes continuity
possible, and that continuity is what Jewishness is all
about. The link to Anne Frank is that the courage of
others, as it is in Polanski's The Pianist, makes
continuity possible. Both are statements about the true
function of civilization.

The director, George Stevens, remembered more famously for
A Place in the Sun, Shane, Giant and
Swing Time, served in the Armed Forces during WWII
photographing the Allied European invasion and the
liberation of Paris, and was among the first to enter Dachau
concentration camp. Naturally, this informed Stevens'
sensitivity for the filming of The Diary.

Stevens made a number of important decisions about his
production: to film it in black & white, to keep mostly to a
single set – more like the play and less like a typical
movie – and to use an unknown in the part of Anne. That
turned out to be teen model Millie Perkins (who, in the
movie, at times bears a fascinating resemblance to Giant
and A Place in the Sun star, Elizabeth Taylor).
Millie went on to a career in TV, seen most recently in 2006
in The Young and the Restless. Joseph Schildkraut as
Otto provides the rudder for the film; Millie, the heart and
soul. Not a trained actress, she acquits herself quite
well. The film, though bordering on sentimentality, is
nonetheless a moving and sometimes suspenseful portrait of
affection, humanity, dreams and loss.

The Movie: 8

The film opens with Anne's father returning alone to the
house where his family was secreted for two years during the
German occupation of Holland. The two people who hid Otto,
his wife and two daughters, along with four others, offer
him Anne's diary that somehow escaped the attention of those
who arrested the self-imprisoned families. Otto once again
lives through the siege through Anne's words. The movie,
therefore, as is noted in one of the bonus features, is a
fictionalized version of a diary, which, in turn, is a
teenager's view of the frightening world around her.
Somehow, in such a world, Anne makes space to grow through
much the same joys and pains of any adolescent.

The first number indicates a relative level of excellence
compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a ten-point scale.
The second number places this image along the full range of
DVD and Blu-ray discs.

After some soft and fuzzy moments (a close-up pf Anne's
diary is frightful), the image looks pretty good. There are
occasional speckles, particularly in the opening reel, but
in such numbers as to go unnoticed once into the movie.
Grayscale and clarity of focus varies from scene to scene,
but is generally appropriate to the probable intentions. I
suspect that the source material would require restoration
to fix the contrast, but sharpness is likely to be the
result of the CinemaScope process itself. A friendly grain
lies over the image, as it should. I don't spy edge
enhancement or artifacts or DNR. There seems to be a slight
green cast to the image in some scenes, but is easily
ignored.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

Audio & Music: 7/8

There isn't a whole lot of difference between the original
4.0 DD and the DTS HD-MA 5.1, which means you can go right
to the uncompressed audio without feeling like you're
violating purist principles. On the other hand, the
soundtrack is something of an odd duck in that it makes
little if any use of rear channels – too bad, in that it
would have been nice to have the distant bombing and
soldiers marching in the street below conveyed to take
advantage of the surrounds. But it was not be in 1959, so
we should not complain about the present transfer. Alfred
Newman's score gets the best of it, especially in the
Entrance and Exit music. The Diary of Anne Frank is
pretty much dialogue-driven and that remains clear and
emotionally pure.

Operations: 7

Fox offers a lovely menu page, easily and sensibly
navigable. My only complaint – and one that obtains in most
videos with many extra features – is that Newman's wonderful
music is made stultifying by excessive repetition each time
we return for a new bonus segment.

Extras: 9

The NEW Bonus Features for the 50th Anniversary
Edition are duplicated on the new DVD, but the other
features, since it is only a single disc, are not. Most of
the new features come with an introduction by George Stevens
Jr who places the material that follows in context. The man
clearly admires his father, an admiration not at all
misplaced.

All of the extra features, new and old, are in 480p, and are
of passable to good quality. Of the new pieces you should
check out "George Stevens in World War II" to learn about
the director's mission in Europe, and "The Score of the
Diary of Anne Frank" which reviews briefly the career of
composer Alfred Newman and looks at how the soundtrack mixed
music and effects. Tom Rothman's discussion of the film for
Fox Legacy serves as a good introduction. Of course,
there's a good deal of repetition among the features, but
for sheer breadth of scope, nothing quite reaches the level
of "Echoes from the Past", a comprehensive 90-minute
documentary about the real people of the story and the times
in which they lived.

Recommendation: 8

Many people today, being used to sound bytes and fast
cutting, would find the pace of the movie a little trying,
but I think if you can let yourself go – maybe try a little
Mozart before you watch to reset your internal clock – you
will find much that rewards. Steven's movie is a lot like
watching a filmed play in the movement, postures and line
readings of its actors, except that he finds some
extraordinary cracks and crevices through which to watch the
action, making everything that much more claustrophobic. The
high definition image is satisfying, if not always sharp and
perfectly contrasted. Audio is more or less mono, but opens
up for the music and effects. Extra features are exhaustive
and excellent.

Leonard NorwitzJuly 18th, 2009

About the Reviewer: I first noticed that some movies were actually "films" back around
1960 when I saw Seven Samurai (in the then popular truncated version),
La Strada and
The Third Man for the first time. American classics were a later and
happy discovery.

My earliest teacher in Aesthetics was Alexander Sesonske, who encouraged the
comparison of unlike objects. He opened my mind to the study of art in a broader
sense, rather than of technique or the gratification of instantaneous events. My
take on video, or audio for that matter – about which I feel more competent – is
not particularly technical. Rather it is aesthetic, perceptual, psychological
and strongly influenced by temporal considerations in much the same way as
music. I hope you will find my musings entertaining and informative, fun,
interactive and very much a work in progress.